The Oracle Paths



Barely a minute later, a naked female body, generously curved yet harmoniously proportioned, stood motionless before Jake, her eyes opened wide, void of any emotion. She was an empty shell.

Her skin was flawless and pale, smooth as the finest porcelain, with jet-black hair cascading just above her shoulders. This cold beauty could make men's heads turn merely by existing. Regrettably, her future occupant had no sexual or emotional interest in the opposite sex.

"So, what do you think of your new physical form?" Jake chuckled with feigned arrogance. "Not bad, right?"

Before responding, Siri cautiously extended her mental senses from her electronic chip to explore her immediate surroundings, and was astounded to come face to face with a young woman of flesh and blood, matching her previous appearance detail for detail.

Of course, the skin of this new iteration no longer bore the distinctive white plastic look of Delkron androids. The skin was pale, but it was a healthy, natural pallor, accompanied by a slight blush on the cheeks and full, red lips.

Beyond these changes, every minute detail was exquisite, from her high-arched, haughty eyebrows to the rebellious lock of hair flicked over her right eye. Out of sheer scientific curiosity, she also inspected her "voluptuous" and perked-up breasts, as well as her genitalia.

"These gelatinous masses are for nursing, correct?" Siri commented flatly. "They're an unnecessary vulnerability, hindering my movements. Remove them."

If Jake had been drinking, he would've certainly choked upon hearing her scandalous indifference. The hilarious laughter from Xi, Jeanie, and the other fairy spirits in his mind promptly added to his embarrassment, creating a symphony of infuriating giggles.

'Shut up!' Jake bellowed inside his head, but the laughter from Xi and the other fairies only became more uncontrollable.

[Sorry, but it's just too funny.] Xi laughed, struggling to catch her breath. [So much passion put into faithfully reproducing this android's two "assets," only for such a tepid reaction. At least, she didn't call you a pervert… I suppose you're not so bad off.]

Jake's lips twitched in annoyance, but in the end, he answered Siri's request impassively, "I can."

He didn't even bother to argue that it was a mistake, for fear of being wrongly perceived as a breast-obsessed man.

After all, all sizes and all tastes existed in this vast world. Flat-chested was okay, and big-breasted was okay too. As long as everyone was happy.

With a snap of his fingers, her bountiful chest deflated like two inflatables punctured by a needle.

"Any other criticism to mention?" Jake rolled his eyes, impatiently.

He thought he was done, but Siri questioned, oblivious to the concept of priorities, "And the holes below... They're for urination and reproduction, correct? Useless. You can remove those too."

That was all it took for Jake's patience to hit its limit. It was troublesome enough to create a body on demand, and he had no intention of retraining as a cosmetic surgeon to satisfy the crap tastes of an apathetic android.

"Does it hinder you?" Jake retorted coldly.

Siri seriously pondered over the question, then shamelessly admitted, "No."

"So what's the problem? If you don't want to use it, don't. Or next time you complain, I'll remove your hair, your eyebrows, your nose, your teeth, and everything else that isn't essential for functioning. We'll see then if your new body still suits you."

"I...I am content with this new form. No need for further alterations."

"See? That wasn't so hard," Jake derided mercilessly, his inner voice filled with scathing mockery. 'These androids, all fucking hypocrites.'

All that was left was to transfer Siri's consciousness to her new body. For this, Jake directly teleported the chip containing the android's electric soul into its new host, connecting it to a set of neurons designed specifically for this purpose.

The effect was instantaneous. The woman's empty gray eyes lit up with a bluish hue upon activation, and a confused, distinctly human expression soon replaced her rigid neutrality.

"How do you feel?" Jake asked conscientiously. It wasn't merely for post-purchase service but also to gather data for his future research.

"It feels weird..." Siri murmured with an unstable voice, closing her eyes tightly as if trying to sense the air or taste her own saliva. "There's so much information to process. Your so-called emotional and sensory overload slows data processing considerably. I now understand why you, organic lifeforms, are so irrational."

"Let me know if you want to go back to being an android," Jake snorted. "But it'll have to wait. I've already wasted too much time creating this new body for you."

In reality, the entire process—his interrogations, his musing, and the creation of the replacement body—took barely a minute and a half. It was the crafting of Siri's customized body that had taken the most time; the rest was nothing but a high-speed telepathic conversation between two highly advanced entities.

However, a wasted minute and a half was more than enough to turn him livid from worry. Every second that slipped away reduced his chances of saving Lucia and the others.

"I must go."

"Wait!" Siri halted him by gripping his shoulder.

"What now?"

"Don't leave me behind." She veered off, her gaze shifting away, not even understanding why she felt so flustered.

Was it the fear that her body, now flesh and blood, was an attractive prey for the Digestors?

Anticipating her mental distress, Jake spoke in a calm tone, "Believe it or not, you're safer in this new body than the old one."

It took a moment for Siri to grasp his implication. But after recovering the bracelet from her previous body and opening her Oracle Status, a shocked and disbelieving cry escaped involuntarily from her lips.

'How is this possible... I'm at least a hundred, no, a thousand times stronger than before!'

No kidding! This custom-made clone might not have such a dense biomass as the original, but it was comparable in quality. This was because Jake reserved this biomass for emergency care for himself or his familiars.

Not only did she have his overpowered Bloodline, but she also possessed a weak Energy Body.

'With this... I can fight!'

Jake read the resurgence of confidence and resolve in Siri's eyes and heaved a sigh of relief, knowing she wouldn't be a hindrance in the battles to come.

"Let's move."

This time, the android didn't stop him. She ran on his heels without any complaint. Just from her rigid grin, one could tell she was eager for the fight.

As for Jake, his thoughts were already focused elsewhere. As soon as he turned his back on Siri, his expression darkened, foreshadowing an unprecedented slaughter.

In a few strides, his body accelerated exponentially, becoming a blurred projectile impossible to track with the naked eye. Siri tried as hard as she could to keep up, but was shocked to discover that even with her new muscles, she struggled to keep pace.

Soon, an intersection like hundreds before that had slowed Jake came into his view. He should have made a sharp 90-degree turn like before, but this time his face remained icy as he barreled forward.

"SCRAM!"

Siri might have wondered at whom he was shouting, but Jake clearly saw the omnipresent, diffuse presence around him recoil just before it was struck by his Destruction True Will-infused yell. Apparently, even a Rank 13 Dungeon Digestor couldn't withstand such vicious and sinister energy without consequence.

BANG!

Jake's Voidsteel-clad fist collided with the steel wall before him with the ferocity of a meteor, the black shockwave saturated with destructive energy chipping away at its surface as if someone had just set fire to a sheet of paper.

The kinetic energy released upon impact was instantly reabsorbed by his cells, compressed, and then redirected to fuel the next punch. A surge of Cosmic Force, potent enough to level a small mountain, propelled his elbow forward, further amplifying the impending strike.

In tandem with his aura of destruction, it took no more than this for the wall to explode into fragments, torn asunder like a mere curtain. The ensuing chaos, a symphony of devastation, echoed in the hollow space beyond, leaving no corner untouched.

From the moment the Dungeon Digestor decided to give up territory, the Voidsteel walls no longer belonged to it. And in his current state, Jake could easily demolish them.

From now on, Jake would fly straight to the Nexus, ignoring all obstacles in his path.